CHAPTER I
A WONDERFUL MIRACLE OF GOD
“Whereas I was blind, now I see” John 9:25
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” God has
again done the impossible and He has performed it in such a way that people
can see and believe in the omnipotence of our Father which is in Heaven.
Ronald can see WITH or WITHOUT his plastic eye.
This is not a healing as there is nothing there to heal, but this is a
miracle. God has created sight where there is no eye to see with.
God is doing many marvelous things during these
last days, trying to save as many as possible out of a lost and dying world.
He is not willing that any should perish and through this miracle we have
seen many give their hearts to Him. Wei have seen them turn their faith
loose to be healed of many diseases and afflictions.
It should make anyone realize that God can do
anything when He can cause a boy to see without an eyeball. I cannot explain
it, nor would I attempt to explain it; only God knows how it was done and
how it continues to be done. We are told in Luke 1: 37: “For with God
nothing shall be impossible.” God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts
are not our thoughts.
So many people, and some of them are Full-Gospel
people, have tried to reason out this miracle. We are reminded many times of
the scripture in the ninth
chapter of John where Jesus healed the man who had
been blind from birth. The rulers didn’t believe that the man had really
been blind so they called his parents and were assured that the man had been
born blind. Then they called the man himself and tried to get him to doubt
his own healing but he answered them: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was
blind, now I see.” So, like the man born blind, we just rest in God. I know
that Ronald can see and I won’t waste any time worrying naturally about how
he does it. We just accept it and say “Thank you, Jesus.”
CHAPTER II
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
“My grace is sufficient for thee” II Cor. 12:9
I am sure that you who have not heard Ronald’s
testimony are interested in knowing the details of how he lost his eye so 1
will endeavor to give them in this book, as well as a sketch of his life and
a testimony of this outstanding miracle.
Roscoe Ronald Jesse Coyne was born July 15,1943,
at Chouteau, Oklahoma, thirty miles north of Muskogee and thirty-eight
miles east of Tulsa. It was during World War II and Chouteau was a boom-
town. His father, R. R. Coyne, was a Jordan Engine Operator at the Du Pont
Powder Plant and Ronald was the third child of four.
I always thought that Ronald’s eyes were
beautiful because they were so brown and reminded me so much of my father’s
eyes. My father was Jesse L. Boatright of Wagner, Oklahoma, and he passed
away when Ronald was just nine months old so Ronald was such a comfort to
me. When he lost his eye the thought came to me that perhaps I had thought
too much along that line, for God has a reason for everything that happens.
I searched my heart in this matter and I was aware that the scriptures tell
us in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
When Ronald was three years of age his brother
Donald was born and I was afflicted with severe heart trouble. For six or
seven years my health was bad and we went from doctor to doctor but nothing
seemed to do any good. The enemy used every trick that he could to overcome
me and to kill me and until we started out to work for the Lord, by
testifying of the Miracle God has worked in Ronald’s life, Ronald could not
remember his mother ever being a well woman.
Several times I had heart attacks and I can
remember many times after having these attacks of saying to Roy, my
husband, “Now Roy, if anything happens to me be sure and love Ronald a lot.”
He has always been so affectionate and in the years before. he was old
enough to start to school he would love me, pat me with his little hands,
and say, “Mother, you’ll be alright.”
Many days when just he, Donald, and I were at home
I couldn’t raise my head off the pillow without a heart attack. He would say
to me, “Mother, if you want to sleep and rest I will watch Nubby.” Nubby was
the name that we had for Donald the youngest son. He was always a loving
child and I remember the last year he was at home, before starting to school
at the age of five, he pumped the water and kept us in fresh water to drink.
We couldn’t afford to hire a girl all the time to
do the housework and my husband had to work as he had a trucking business
and there were six in the family. Our doctor bills and our hospital bills
were taking more than he made so we spent our savings. God allowed us to
have financial reverses but we are reminded in II Corinthians 12:9 that “My
grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Jesus didn’t promise us a life of ease but He said that He would go with us
all the way and that we would be tried as by fire. In, these times of fiery
trial it is good to know that we have “a friend that sticketh closer than a
brother.” Proverbs 18:24.
It seemed that the devil was trying to hinder in
every way that he could and, too, my husband didn’t think that we could
afford to tithe as it took so much to pay the doctors and the hospitals.
Financially we went down, down, and down until when God gave Ronald this
miracle we were lower in finance than we had ever been but still we trusted
the Lord. Folks, you cannot afford not to tithe, it’s scriptural.
CHAPTER III
THE ACCIDENT
“Not my will but thine, be done” Luke 22:42
In May, 1950, we moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma, (20
miles southwest of Tulsa) and bought a little place out on S. Water Street.
It was here in August, 1950, that Ronald and Donald decided between
themselves to run away from home.
The weather was hot so I put them to bed about
1:80 in the afternoon to take a nap. Then I decided to get some rest, too.
In a little while I was aroused by hearing Ronald crying down the street a
short distance and in a moment Donald came leading him into the house. They
said that he had stuck a wire into his eye but I didn’t let it excite me
because I thought they were just trying to get me upset. I really thought
they were telling me that so they wouldn’t get a whipping for being out of
bed.
Ronald continued to cry and didn’t sleep all that
afternoon so about dusk I called him to me and I noticed there was a white
spot on his eyeball. We took him to an eye specialist there in Sapulpa but
the doctor was old and not very patient so we went on to one of the best eye
specialists in Tulsa, Dr. Otis Lee, at the Springer Clinic. Right away he
said, “Folks, this is an emergency!” and immediately we entered Ronald at
St. John’s Hospital.
I stayed with him night and day for a week. I had
him annointed and prayed for and I prayed myself for God to do something’
so that the eye wouldn’t have to be removed, but you cannot tell God what to
do. We’ve got to get the same spirit that Jesus had when He said in
Gethsemane, “Not my will but thine be done.” I was limiting God’s power by
trying to figure a way out but there is no limit to what God can do.
On Friday of the second week I stayed at home as a
punishment for Ronald because when I'would start for home at night from the
hospital he would follow me down the hall and cry to go home, too. The
nurses would just have to manhandle him.
That Friday morning, while I was at home, I
received a call from Tulsa and the doctor had bad news for me. I couldn’t
understand all the medical terms he was using but I told him that if he
meant he would have to take out the eye I wouldn’t consent to it. He told me
that he was the doctor, there was nothing to worry about, and just to leave
it up to him but I still said, “No!” I didn’t want the eye removed. He
didn’t argue with me; I guess he could see that it would be of no avail, but
he told me to come over the next day, which was Saturday, and he would
explain the situation to my husband and me.
I went back that afternoon, Friday, and they let
me go into Ronald’s room. He was asleep and I looked into his eye. It was
cloudy, lifeless, and I knew the sight was gone. I got nervous, so nervous
that I couldn’t stay at the hospital, and I called a friend of mine and told
her I wanted her to take me to her house until my husband came from work.
I went to her house, and I told her about the
doctor calling me. I described how the eye looked and told her I was worried
about Ronald. She asked, “He isn’t worse, is he?” I replied, “No, but he’s
not any better either and he has been in the hospital long enough to be
healed.” Of course she tried to comfort me with words but I guess my
mother’s intuition, or maybe it was God, told me things weren’t so good. I
believe now that God was trying to get me ready for the shock.
On Saturday morning my husband and I both went to
the hospital and signed for surgery. I thought the doctor was going to
correct the eye from weeping; he had told me this could be stopped, or else
they were going to surgery for another penicillin shot. They had put two
shots of penicillin right into the eyeball the week before trying to kill
infection, trying every way in the world to save the eye.
They stayed and stayed in surgery and I began to
be uneasy but after about an hour and a half a nurse came to me and told me
the eyeball had to be removed. An abcess had formed and there was no way to
drain it. I was warned that he might lose his other eye, that he might
contact meningitis, or that he might even lose his life. I told them “No”
two or three times and I was certainly upset. I pointed my finger at the
doctor and said, “Don’t take it out!” then I walked away from surgery. My
husband followed me and tried to get my consent but I wouldn’t give it. I
knew if they would leave the eyeball in there it would get well. Even then,
without knowing it, I was limiting God’s power. I had had Ronald annointed
and prayed for according to James 5:14, 15 and I was holding to that
scripture, not knowing what God really had in His plan.
Finally my husband gave his consent and that was
all that was necessary for the operation. Immediately I began to question
God. I went to the ladies lounge and searched my heart to find an answer. I
began to talk to God: “what has Ronald done, or what have I done, that he
should have to go through life with just one eye?” Again and again I asked
God these questions. When you see your own child’s eye removed it is really
hard to bear. He was only seven years old!
You always think of these things happening to the
other person but when it happens to you, believe me, it is plenty hard. In
such a time it is good to remember the scripture in I Corinthians 10:12:
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” The
enemy was after me and for about two or three minutes how he did try me! He
spoke so plainly: “Look what kind of a God you are serving! You have served
Him for a good many years, you have stuck by Him, and now look at Ronald,
how he has suffered and him so young! What kind of God would allow that eye
to be taken out? You have had him annointed, you have prayed day and night,
now God has left you!”
I began to think: “when Ronald is out of here I am
going to take him to the movies, I am going to let him see everything, even
though it is worldly, for his other eye may go out but he will at least get
to
see a few things before he is totally blind!” See
how the devil was trying me? He made a great attempt to get me to live for
him but that was only for a while.
I called the pastor at Oakhurst, Brother Herschel
Brummett, the one who had prayed for Ronald. I told him Ronald was in
surgery and they were removing the eye. He was shocked but he said to me,
“Sister Coyne, don’t question God.” I know that he began to pray, for as we
went to Ronald’s room the Spirit of the Lord hovered over us.
They rolled Ronald in but he was under the
influence of anesthetics most of the day and that was the saddest day of
our lives. Everyone was so nice. There were cards, flowers, and gifts for
Ronald and friends were so good to us but we didn’t adjust too well.
CHAPTER IV
SALVATION
“A little child shall lead them” Isa. 11:6
After the operation Ronald began to get stronger
and in about four days he was permitted to come home. He was thin and wan
but was a very happy little boy to be back home again. I told my neighbor
that I hadn’t told him yet that his eye had been removed. She reminded me
that he would have to know it sometime and I said, “Yes, but he has been so
sick that I just can’t tell him,” but I decided to tell him that night.
I began by saying, “Ronald, you are really glad to
be home, aren’t you?” “Yes,” he replied, “I’m glad to get out of that old
jail!” I continued, “Well, Ronald, the only way you could come home was to
have your eye taken out because you couldn’t get well until it was removed.”
“Oh, is my eye out?” he asked, and that is about all he said.
For ten months he was blinded where that right eye
had been, for any doctor will tell you that after the eyeball has been
removed there can be no sight. Medical science has never recorded anyone
seeing after the eye is gone. During those ten months Ronald didn’t say
much but he was meloncholy. He realized he was handicapped and not like the
other little boys. He wasn’t very happy anymore, but was moody.
Around June first he went to the Daily Vacation
Bible School but about two weeks before that, when we laid down one night,
he said to me, “Mother, do you think Jesus will come tonight?” I -was
startled by the question and I said, “I don’t know! Why?” He asked me then,
“If Jesus comes tonight will I be ready?” I thought he was too young to be
thinking about such things and I replied, “Well honey, Mother will take
care of that.”
He didn’t seem to be satisfied with my answer and
he said, “Well, Mother, I think I ought to get saved.” I told him that
sometime when he was at church he could get saved but I knew God was trying
to save him then and was speaking to his heart. God was trying to get him
ready for this miracle and God knew I had become resigned to Ronald’s being
handicapped and going through life blind in one eye. I was doing the human
thing—I was limiting God.
Ronald had been to Sunday School, and church all
his life and had never missed, so you can see that a child of seven can be
saved if he is taught the right way. I have had neighbors, older people,
sixty and seventy years old, who have tried to get saved and couldn’t
because they don’t understand. They have lived for the devil these years and
such experiences in my personal work have convinced me more and more of the
value of childhood conversions.
Ronald went to the Vacation Bible School and one
day he came home with a big smile on his face. He was happier than I had
ever seen him during the past ten months and he said, “Do you know what
happened today, Mother?” I answered, “No, but I think I do!” “Mother, I got
saved!” I know that he was saved, which is the greatest miracle. I knew that
he knew what he was doing and I know it was his faith that eventually
brought about this miracle. Oh, if we could have the faith of a little
child! In Isaiah 11:6 we are told “a little child shall lead them.”
CHAPTER V
A MIRACLE IS PERFORMED
“But ye are... a peculiar people” I Peter 2:9
About two weeks after Ronald was saved, in June,
1951, we began attending a Salvation Healing Crusade in the Junior High
School auditorium at Sapul- pa, Oklahoma. This campaign was conducted by a
lady evangelist, Sis. Daisy Gillock; she and her husband now pastor the
Hiway Temple Assembly of God Church in Odessa, Texas. This crusade was
sponsored by our home church, the First Assembly of God where Rev. Lonnie
Osborn was the pastor. The revival was to be city-wide so as many people as
possible could be reached with the Gospel.
There was a large fan on either side of the
auditorium and Ronald took a cold which settled in his tonsils. We had been
told by the doctor, when Ronald was in the hospital, that there was
infection somewhere in his body and it had been the cause of the abcess
forming in his injured eye. In order to guard against the loss of the other
eye I said to Ronald, “Why don’t you go up and be prayed for, then you won’t
have to go to the hospital and have your tonsils removed.” That suited him
fine because the hospital was like jail to him since he couldn’t go home
when he wanted to each night.
He went through the healing line to have his
tonsils prayed for but after praying for him the lady evangelist asked him
what was wrong with his eye. He told her he was blind and she asked him if
he believed the Lord could heal his eye. He told her he did believe the Lord
could. She didn’t know that his real eyeball had been removed and the one
she saw was just a plastic eye, so she commanded the blinded eye to see in
the name of Jesus. God heard that prayer of faith!
Ronald began to see objects. First he could see
steps, then the microphone, and then he could count fingers. Now I was doing
alright when she was praying for his tonsils but when she began to pray for
the eye I froze. She, (Sister Gillock) had all the saints who believed in
prayer to come down front before the healing line started. She realized
there was a lot of unbelief and skepticism in the building and she knew, as
all preachers know, that the answers to their prayers had to come from
Heaven. We were all down front, standing near the platform, praying. My
daughter, Carol, and I, both tried to tell Sister Gillock that Ronald had a
plastic eye but the power of God was so strong that I had to either sit down
or fall. God didn’t intend for me to tell that it was a plastic eye. I
finally sat down.
You know, when we get to Heaven we will really
have to have a new body because this old body just can’t stand the presence
of God. I finally got it said, in a low voice, after he had already begun to
see, “He can’t possibly see; it’s a plastic eye!” A lady overheard me and
asked, “Is that a plastic eye?” I answered, “Yes”, and when I did she said,
“Well, he can see!” And he COULD see!
Everyone was really happy but me, his mother; I
was petrified! Carol asked me, “Are you going to my husband was asleep
beside me as I heard him mumble a bit. I knew that someone was standing by
my bed and I thought, “Now if this is Jesus He will have nail prints in His
hand.” My hands are large but His were larger and I placed my thumb into the
palm of His hand. I could feel the scar then, about one half as big as the
first joint of my thumb.
I was frightened but I said, “Yes, Lord?” He
replied, “Go and tell the people.” I tried to tell the Lord about all the
work T had to do with six in the family. I said, “Lord, you know I never get
through with my work. You know how my heart bothers me.” You know this and
you know that! Of course God knew all about me without my telling Him.
The next night He visited me again and this time I
got out of bed, so as not to disturb my husband, and I went to the living
room. I began to pray and I asked God, “How can I go? You know the
situation.” He was persistent and again He said, “Go and tell the people.”
He also promised me that He would go with me all the way and anywhere we
might go. In fact, He left us that promise in Matthew 28:20: “Lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world.” I know He goes ahead of us all
the time and makes a way.
The next morning I asked my husband if he thought
I could preach. He said, “Well, you’ve taught Sunday School classes and
you’re a pretty good speaker.” I thought then that it was preaching the Lord
wanted me to do. I told him, “The Lord Jesus Christ was here last night
again and He wants me to preach, or maybe He wants me to testify to the
people about Ronald.”
“But how can I?” I asked, “Just look! I never get
through anymore with my work here.” He agreed with me, “That’s right, but I
believe you can go.” For so many years we just had the one girl, then the
three boys were born and it made a lot of work. Since I was ill I was behind
most of the time with my housework.
The third night Jesus came again and once more
commanded me, “Go and tell the people.” I was beginning to want some sleep
so I said, “Lord, I’ll go!” After these visits from the Lord I began to pray
and doors began to open for us. Since that time we have traveled constantly
testifying in churches, auditoriums and tents all over the world. I traveled
with Ronald giving the testimony until he began to travel by himself. Then
later on the Lord dealt with Ronald concerning carrying this miracle and
testimony around the world and overseas, as you will read later in this
book.